ECONOMY

OPEC chief: Oil market is on course to restoring balance

AzerTAg.az

"The oil market is on course to restoring balance for the first time since 2014,” said Secretary-General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Mohammad Barkindo speaking to reporters at a conference in Cairo, Egypt, according to organization’s official website.

Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo noted that this year, oil demand is set to grow by 1.6 million barrels a day in 2018, the same level as last year, with crude inventories continuing to dwindle as OPEC and other producers pursue their output cuts until the end of the year.

Barkindo said producers’ “unprecedented conformity” with their targets for reducing output is driving progress towards a balanced market.

On November 30, 2016, OPEC countries have agreed to reduce daily oil output by 1.2 mln barrels to keep it at 32.5 mln barrels/day. On December 10, in Vienna, 11 non-member countries, including Azerbaijan signed agreement with OPEC to reduce overall daily production by 558,000 barrels. Within the 172nd meeting of the OPEC Ministerial Council on May 25, 2017, OPEC and non-OPEC states agreed to extend the contract on oil production cut till the end of I quarter, 2018.